Me: I finally stopped being lazy. I would have finished this two days ago but I was being lazy.

Genis: Didn't you also have something to tell the readers.

Me: Ah, that's right! I've decided that Sarah's wings are going to be silver! I've also got two votes for a pairing. They are both for Lloyd.

Genis: She owns nothing.

Me: Except Sarah.


That night we gathered in Raine and Genis' room. Raine wanted to discuss the exsphere she found. While everyone was talking about the exsphere, I just blocked it out and fell into thought.

I can't feel the desert heat, but I can feel everything else. Now that it was night, I still couldn't feel anything. I was guessing that it was still hot in the desert because of Efreet's mana influence. I was going to have to try and figure this out sooner or later. Maybe experiment with my exsphere to make sure it's not really a cruxis crystal.

Then something else popped into my head, mana signatures. Don't you have to have a mana signature to live? I'm from Earth, and last time I checked, Earth didn't have mana. Maybe I was given a mana signature when I got here. I got other stuff when I got here. Or maybe I already had a mana signature, and that was one of the reasons I got to come here. But if I did have a mana signature, wouldn't that mean one of my family members came from Sylverant or Tethe'alla? Okay, that's ruled out. I guess I was given a mana signature when I came here. Besides, if I didn't have a mana signature, Raine or Genis probably would have brought it up by now.

Another thing is that I haven't learned any techniques so far. I'm the only one who doesn't know any techniques. I mean, shouldn't I at least know demon fang? Fights would have been a lot easier if I knew techniques. I wonder if anybody has noticed yet? I've seen everyone use techniques, even some monsters we've fought. I guess it's because I'm from Earth.

Anyways, after I finished my thoughts, I noticed that the discussion was coming to an end. Lloyd had just agreed to fixing Raine's keycrest. After Raine thanked Lloyd, everyone started to file out.

I was sharing a room with Colette. When I got into our room, I took off my vest, belts and boots. I sat down and sighed. It had been a long day for me.

"Sarah, how are you feeling?" Colette asked, from her bed.

"I'm fine, tired and a little sore, but fine," I replied.

"I hope you feel better tomorrow," Colette said.

"Thanks," I smiled and stretched.

There was a brief pause.

"Sarah, is something wrong?" Colette asked.

"Sorta," I replied.

"What's wrong? We're friends, so you can tell me," Colette smiled.

I paused before I answered, "… I guess… I'm kinda home sick…"

It was true, I was starting to get homesick. I didn't think it would start to affect me so soon. We hadn't even released the first seal. But then again, I did spend most of my time at home when I was on Earth.

"Oh, I see. Don't worry, I'm sure we'll be going to Luin on our journey!" Colette chirped, trying to cheer me up.

"Thanks Colette," I replied, hoping my smile looked believable.

Then again, I've either always been good at hiding my emotions, or people have just never cared.

"Your welcome! We should probably go to sleep now, it's been a long day," Colette said.

"Right, good night, Colette," I said, with a yawn.

"Good night, Sarah!" Colette chirped happily.

I blew out the candle next on the night stand next to the bed. Colette blew out the one on her side too. I got under the blanket and tried to fall asleep. The key word there is "tried." I had too many thoughts going through my head to sleep. Finally, I just got fed up with it and got out of bed.

I slipped on my boots and made sure Colette was asleep before I left. I walked out of the inn and sighed. I walked over to Sammy's and Noishe's pen and smiled.

"Hey guys," I said and started to pet Sammy and Noishe.

Sammy licked my hand and whined.

"I'm just a little home sick Sammy. I'll be fine," I smiled.

Sammy whined again. Translation: "When ever you say your fine you're not."

"That's not true," I argued.

"*Whine*". Translation: "Yes it is."

"Okay fine, it is true. But I'll be okay, I just have to think things through a bit," I reassured.

This time the translation was: "You always keep things to yourself. You never go to anyone else for help with your problems."

"… I know your right, but there's nothing that can help my home sickness. The only way I can return home is if I finish this journey…That is, if I don't die first," I replied.

Translation: "Don't think that way! What happened to the over-confident, sure-of-herself, determined girl I knew?"

I sighed then smiled, "She's still here, she's just having a reality check. I'm sorry Sammy, I shouldn't doubt myself so much that I'd think something like that."

Translation: "Good, and don't worry, I'll protect you."

"Thanks, I'm gonna go for a walk now. I wanna clear my head of any unsolved, useless thought," I said, and scratched Sammy behind the ears before starting to leave.

Translation: "Be careful! I don't want you getting kidnapped again!"

"I'll be fine," I smiled.

Translation: "That line makes me worry."

I walked around that part of town for a bit, then I head over to the oasis. I wanted to see how it looked at night. When I walked past the inn, I heard the door open. I just ignored it so that I could enjoy the walk.

When I got to the oasis it was simply beautiful. I had never seen something like it. If only I had my camera or sketch pad at the time. Oh well, I just had to enjoy it while it lasted.

"Hey Sarah," someone said.

I slightly jumped in surprise and turned around quickly. I sighed in relief that it was Lloyd.

"Sorry about scaring you," Lloyd said nervously.

"It's okay, I have to pay more attention anyways. How did you know I was here?" I asked.

"I talked to Colette and we noticed you weren't in bed. When I came out here and talked to Kratos, he said he saw you go this way," Lloyd explained.

"Ah, I see. So why are you here?" I asked.

"Colette thinks there might some else wrong besides being home sick. I just wanted to make sure you were alright," Lloyd answered, with a smile.

"Don't worry I'm fine," I smiled, trying to make it look believable.

"…No you're not, I can tell that smile is fake," Lloyd responded, seriously.

I dropped the smile and my eyes widened slightly. I then frowned and lowered my eyes.

"You're the first person to ever see through my fake smile," I said.

"The first? Not even your family saw through it?" Lloyd asked surprised.

"I've never had to use it on them," I answered.

"Oh… So what's wrong? I've already seen through that fake smiled," Lloyd said, seriously.

"I'm just home sick… It's been a while since I've been home," I replied.

"Colette doesn't think that's it," Lloyd said.

I was just about to say that that was it, but Sammy's words rang in my head.

"You always keep things to yourself. You never go to anyone else for help with your problems."

I sighed, Sammy was right. If I always kept things to myself, I'd just hurt myself.

"Lloyd… is it hot or cold out here?" I asked.

"I'm not sure what that has to do with anything, but it's pretty cold out here. I'm surprised you're not shivering," Lloyd replied, confused.

"… I can't feel the temperature…" I said.

"What?!" He asked.

"I can't feel the temperature… I don't know why but I can't feel it. I can feel texture and things like that, but I can't feel temperature," I repeated with some more explanation.

"You can't feel hot or cold? How long has it been like that?" Lloyd asked, slightly panicked.

"Ever since I got to Triet, the heat hasn't affected me. I have a theory that I can't feel mana at all, and since hot and cold are created by mana influence, I wouldn't be able to feel it," I explained, calmly.

"How can you be so calm?! There might be something seriously wrong with you! We should tell the Professor about this!" Lloyd said.

"Lloyd… Don't tell anyone about this, got it? I told you this because I trust you," I calmly said.

"But what if something's wrong? What if-"

"Focusing on the what if's will get you nowhere. Don't tell anyone," I cut him off, saying that sternly.

There was a pause before Lloyd sigh.

"…Alright, but if something happens, like you get burned by a fire and don't notice it but everyone else does, than I'm gonna have to tell them," Lloyd replied.

"Deal, but I don't intend on having something like that happen," I responded.

"We should probably get inside. You might not be able to feel it but you can still get sick from the cold," Lloyd said.

"True, let's go," I agreed.

We walked back to the inn and said good night before going into our separate rooms.

I was just about to go to sleep when I remembered something from earlier. My exsphere, I had to remove it and see if I could feel anything to make sure it wasn't a cruxis crystal. I sat up and placed my hand on my exsphere. I then removed it and the keycrest. I waited a bit, then I felt the slightly cold room temperature.

Oh crap, I had a cruxis crystal. Which meant that if I kept it on for too long, I would become soulless. Why the hell did whoever sent me there have to give me a cruxis crystal. I like feeling stuff and all that. I guess I really am so weak that I had to have a cruxis crystal and not an exsphere to help me fight.

Wait, I was able to feel stuff, just not hot or cold. Which meant that it was slowly but surely draining my humanity. That meant that I would have to keep the cruxis crystal off as often as I could. But I still needed it to fight, and for other stuff. Damn, this was going to be hard.

That was probably the reason the Renegades were after my exsphere…er… cruxis crystal. I guess they wanted to get it out of my hands. They must have thought I was of Cruxis, because one, I had a cruxis crystal and two, I had no records. The reason I believe that, is because they wanted to execute me!

I finally sighed and set my cruxis crystal on the night stand and went to sleep.

The next morning Colette woke me up.

"C'mon Sarah, get!" Colette chirped.

"Mm, I don't want to get up yet," I groaned but got up anyways.

"Is something wrong? Usually your not like this, and you're usually up before everyone else," Colette said, a bit worried.

"Nothings wrong, I just don't feel as full of energy as usual," I muttered.

"Okay, I'll be down stairs," Colette chirped and left me to myself.

I looked over at my cruxis crystal.

"The reason I was like that before must have been because of the cruxis crystal. Looks like I'm back to normal," I said to myself.

I got up and stretched my arms. I then took off the bandages that were still on my arms to see that they were healed enough not to need the bandages. I then unwrapped the bandages the were still on my head. I didn't feel any pain any more and there wasn't any blood.

Afterwards, I put on my vest and slipped on my gloves. I zipped my vest up half way and strapped on my belts. I grabbed my cruxis crystal and hesitated on putting it on. When I did, I couldn't feel the temperature any more.

"Looks like it picks up where it left off. This'll just make things even harder, damn it," I muttered.

I zipped up my vest the rest of the way and sighed. I would have to tell Lloyd about my cruxis crystal later. I made sure I had everything I needed and went downstairs. Everyone besides Lloyd was down there.

"Good morning, Sarah!" Colette chirped.

"Good morning, Colette, everyone," I greeted.

"How are your injuries?" Raine asked.

"They're pretty much healed," I answered.

"That's good to here," Raine commented.

Colette, Genis and I started talking about random topics. Raine decided to read a book and said something every now and then. We were just waiting for Lloyd to get up.

After waiting a while inside we moved outside to wait for Lloyd. Then, he finally came out to join us.

The conversation went like it did in the game and we headed for the Triet Ruins. We ran into a few fights with monsters but nothing big. We got to the Triet Ruins around noon.

"Ah, so hot… man, I'm beat," Lloyd complained.

"See? You're already worn out," Genis said.

"I'm sick of this desert," Lloyd complained again.

"Stop complaining! Sarah's wearing darker clothes than you are and she hasn't complained at all," Genis informed.

"Actually, the reason I don't complain is because I was born in Triet and lived here for five years before moving to Luin. So I'm use to the heat," I said, coming up with an excuse quickly. I didn't want the others to find out about not feeling hot or cold.

That's when Noishe started to whine and Sammy started growling.

"What's wrong, Noishe?" Lloyd asked.

I took out my daggers and unsheathed them. Sammy's growl translated to "enemies."

"Be on your guard, there are enemies about," Kratos informed, unsheathing his sword.

At that moment, two fire elements shot out of the sand. The elements started to cast fireball. Luckily they're slow casters so I was able to attack one and stop the casting. Kratos took care of the other one. The others joined in after that.

Lloyd, Kratos and I took the frontlines as usual. Raine and Genis stayed in the back and Colette covered both of them, attacking from in front of them. Lloyd and I worked together on one of the elements, Kratos took care of the other one.

The elements were easy to take down. Just several slashes from both Lloyd and I and it was down. Well, not before it had knocked me back with an attack. I just rammed into me, but I wasn't hurt too much.

After defeating the fire elements, Sammy ran up to me and made sure I was alright.

"This is going to be a nuisance," Kratos muttered.

"What is?" Lloyd asked.

"Ah, nothing. Anyways, it would be a good idea for you to learn techniques to protect yourselves," Kratos stated.

"Are you talking about self-defense training?" Colette asked.

"I've had enough self-defense training," I muttered, under my breath so it was barely audible.

"Did you say something?" Colette wondered.

"No, no, nothing at all," I lied.

"It's something like that. Techniques to raise your defense during battles. I'll show you how it's done. Once you grasp the theory, the rest should be easy," Kratos said.

'Oh crap, I haven't performed a single technique since I got here. Will I be able to perform a defensive one?'

Kratos showed us his guardian and explained about the theory. Kratos started by helping Lloyd first.

I repeated the theory in my head over and over again. I was nervous about whether I'd be able to perform the technique or not.

I concentrated on what Kratos told us to do. I closed my eyes and imagined the mana surround me in a protective shield. I didn't feel anything happen and opened my eyes. Nothing, so far I've gotten no where on my first try. That was probably the first time I had failed to accomplish even a little bit on the first try. Well, like they say, there's a first time for everything, especially in that world.

I looked over and Lloyd had already accomplished his guardian with Kratos' help. Raine and Genis were close to getting there and Colette was still getting hers down. I had gotten no where.

After a while, everyone but me had gotten the technique down. Even with help I couldn't perform the technique. It even backfired on me. We just gave up on it. I was pretty hopeless with techniques.

'I guess I can't use any techniques. I wonder if angel skills count. I hope they don't, at least then I might be able to use those.'

I just ignored everyone's conversation about the new technique. I was being angry with myself and Sammy was trying to cheer me up.

"Hmm, what happened to Noishe?" Raine wondered.

I looked around and didn't see any sign of him. Lloyd looked surprised that Noishe was gone.

"You're right. He's gone. Ah, man, he's run off again," Lloyd complained.

"He's probably nervous about the monsters. I think it would be best not to count on Noishe in places with monsters around," Kratos said.

Lloyd glared at Kratos for saying that.

After that we approached the ruins. Colette examined the pedestal.

"Say, is this the seal? It has my families crest on it…" Colette examined.

"Fantastic!" Raine shouted.

I twitched slightly at the loudness of her voice.

Everyone turned to look at Raine. She was romantically looking that the slab of the ruins.

"Look at this slab covering the entrance! It's clearly of a different composition than the surrounding stone!" Raine continued in her ruin mode, "Hahahaha! It's just as I thought!"

Raine crouched down and felt the slab.

"This is polycarbonate, developed during the Ancient War to defend against magic! Oh, feel the smooth surface! It's wondrous!" Raine shouted.

'Hm, polycarbonate is just plastic on Earth. On Earth, you can just melt plastic easily with fire. This is weird… I'll think about it later.'

"…Is she always like this?" Kratos questioned Genis.

Raine was examining the slab and pedestal.

"…Is she?" Lloyd asked.

Genis sighed, "…I've been trying so hard to hide it, too."

"Hmm? This depression… it reads, "oracle stone." Colette, place your hand here. That should reveal the entrance," Raine said.

I decided to ignore the rest of the conversation. I walked a little ways from the group so I could talk to Sammy. I looked over at her.

"You should probably stay out here Sammy, I'll be fine" I said.

Sammy whined, which translated to "You make me worry when you say that… I want to come with you. I will not trust your safety to any of these people."

"Don't worry, these guys are strong, I'll be alright," I reassured.

I didn't want to take Sammy with me into any of the seals. The memory of seeing Corrine die at the Temple of Lightening made me afraid of losing Sammy at one of the seals or in any of the major battles.

Translation: "I still don't truly trust these people, but you have good judgment so I'll stay here. Just be careful and try to come out with as few injuries as possible."

I smiled, relieved that Sammy agreed.

"I try my best, don't worry," I said.

I looked over and the others were already starting to go into the ruins.

"Bye Sammy," I said and followed the others into the temple.

When we got inside the temple Raine was still in ruin mode.

"Sarah! You absolutely must tell me all you know about this temple!" Raine shouted, thinking that I knew the most about the temple.

"Um, well… These ruins use to be the city of Triet, but then Efreet went out of control and destroyed the city. This temple is were Efreet resides. It would be best to be careful around here, there are probably traps still lying around. This part is the actual temple of the old city of Triet, so normally, it would have traps. Efreet and the altar should be at the heart of the temple," I said, thinking up of as much information that I could remember.

"Do you have an idea of why Efreet went out of control?" Raine asked.

"I'm pretty sure it's because of a broken vow," I answered.

"Broken vow?" Raine questioned.

"Somebody must have created a pact with Efreet. In order to make a pact, you must give the summon spirit a vow. If the vow is broken, then so is the pact. Efreet must have taken the broken vow hard and went on a rampage. I'm not sure if a broken vow is the reason or not, but it's the only reason I can think of," I answered.

"Were did you learn all this?" Raine asked.

'Oops, I said too much, crap!'

"I read this really old book that I found near some ruins when I was 13," I lied quickly.

"I see, do you still have that book?" Raine asked, looking really hopeful.

"No, it got destroyed when I got into a battle with a couple of monsters," I replied.

"Oh… that's too bad. I would have loved to read it," Raine said, disappointed.

'Everything can be solved by books. Thank you person who invented books!'

I felt a chill run down my spine. I glanced over to see Kratos glaring at me.

'Crap, I should've kept my big mouth shut. Now Kratos is suspicious of me. Hopefully I won't make a mistake like that again. I do not want to be killed for knowing to much.'


Me: That's it. It doesn't seem very good to me.

Genis: You seem tired with this story.

Me: Nah, I'm just tired. I haven't been sleeping lately so the days feel like just one really long day. I've lost track of the days about five times. Now I know how Colette must have felt when she couldn't sleep.

Genis: Why haven't you been sleeping.

Me: I don't know. Anyways, I'd like to recieve more votes on a pairing or not. An if so, who. Please review and vote!